The Dead-line is still visible, and laid down in the great Statute Book, as the “broad way that leads to death.” We see almost every day, men and women approaching the Dead-line, and death ensues. “Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God.” Was it not strange, that our boys in blue, in seeing their comrades shot down daily for approaching this line, would go in the same direction, and receive their fate?
It is precisely so with many that profess the grace of God to-day. Women that were once saved in God, conforming to the divine command, “I will that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broidered hair or gold, or pearls or costly array, but which becometh women professing godliness, with good works.” But now, alas! how changed. The gold has become dim. Hearts that were all aglow with the love of God; tongues employed in giving glory to him, telling of his wondrous power to save; physical powers all devoted to the redemption of a lost world; goods and chattels, all consecrated to the grand end of life eternal; time and talents; yea, all my store, more shouldst thou have if I had more, was the language of their hearts; but now, alas! they have evidently been too near the “Dead-line.” The odor of death is realized all through their ranks. It might well be sung—
“Hark! from the tomb a doleful sound.”
Avoid the route that brings spiritual death! “If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee,” or anything as dear as the eye, for it is better to enter into life halt than to be cast into hell with all our members.
XXXVII.
Pump-Logs.
They are used for conveying water from the fountain to the inhabitants in the valleys below. Should they become decayed—rotten, the water must of necessity be greatly injured, if not entirely spoiled. Frequently whole communities have been made sick, and in some cases many have died in consequence of using poisoned water. Every minister of the gospel is a drawer of water to his congregation. But if ministers become rotten by coming in contact with foreign substances—such as jesting, filthy conversation,mingling in the society of the worldly minded, in parties of pleasure, joining hand in hand with secret oath-bound societies, doing all for policy’s sake, preaching a gospel to please ungodly professors of the religion of Jesus Christ, or catering to the lusts and passions of the professedly unregenerate, wearing gold, sneering at those who profess to live without sin, treating lightly, or wholly ignoring the doctrine of being made holy in this life—they must be indeed rotten pump-logs. God expects that every minister, in his ministrations to the people, will convey the water of life pure. “Be ye holy,” is the great command; and through the foolishness of preaching God intends to save them that believe. “Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.”
XXXVII.
The End.
THE GRAVE, is the end of all men, so far as this world goes; especially, is this true in regard to the rich, they have their portion in this life; they make no provision for the great hereafter, or the life that is to come. With them, it is emphatically, “Earth to earth, ashes to ashes and dust to dust.” They see nothing beyond the grave worth their time and thought; consequently they make marvelous, and very costly preparation for resting places for their bodies, and leave their souls, that must live forever, in bliss or woe, to chance. We give below the preparation that some of the millionaires have made for their bodies.
The death and burial of such famous men as Grant, Tilden, Hendricks and Arthur, and the recent removal of the remains of William H. Vanderbilt from the receiving vault in the Moravian cemetery at NEW DORP to its final resting place in the big granite tomb, awaken an interest in the instances where well known living men have made provision for their interment after death. All the beautiful cemeteries in the vicinity of New York, contain evidence of the care with which some men have arranged for their bodies a resting placeafter the soul has passed into eternity.
Woodlawn seems to take the lead. Although the late Commodore made no preparation for his grave except to own a modest little lot at New Dorp, and the newly constructed mausoleum of William H. Vanderbilt contains several catacombs, several members of the family have secured beautiful plots at Woodlawn. Among the mausoleums built here, is that of the late Frederick Butterfield, erected long before he died, which cost $40,000.